


Five Weeks

by westwingfanfictioncentral_archivist



Category: The West Wing
Genre: Alternate Universe, F/M, Humor, Romance
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2001-04-28
Updated: 2001-04-28
Packaged: 2019-05-15 23:23:31
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 3,274
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/14799935
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/westwingfanfictioncentral_archivist/pseuds/westwingfanfictioncentral_archivist
Summary: A copy of this work was once archived at National Library, a part of theWest Wing Fanfiction Central, a West Wing fanfiction archive. More information about the Open Doors approved archive move can be found in theannouncement post.





	Five Weeks

**Author's Note:**

> A copy of this work was once archived at National Library, a part of the [ West Wing Fanfiction Central](https://fanlore.org/wiki/West_Wing_Fanfiction_Central), a West Wing fanfiction archive. More information about the Open Doors approved archive move can be found in the [announcement post](http://archiveofourown.org/admin_posts/8325).

The Schedule: Week Five  
By: Jenna

Disclaimer: Don't I wish he belonged to me, but everything is Aaron's, so it's not to be.

* * *

CJ, Sam, Josh, and Donna walked up to the booth in the dimly lit Mexican restaurant. Donna and Sam took the inner seats and Josh dutifully started to take the one next to Sam.

"Josh, what are you doing?" CJ asked, "Don't you want to sit by Donna?"

"I'm not al--" then stopped realizing he also wasn't allowed to mention that he wasn't allowed. "It's okay, Josh," said Donna patting the bench next to her. "It's the seventh."

"I... I didn't forget, Josh stammered quietly, looking Donna in the eyes as he slid in next to her, "It's just--"

"You're exhausted. Did you get any sleep last night?"

Their chance at quiet conversation ended as Sam and CJ had settled into their side of the booth. The waiter arrived to take their drink orders followed by the busboy with the chips and salsa. Donna positioned their salsa cup away from Josh in an attempt to discourage him from filling up on chips and salsa before his dinner arrived. Sam and C.J. were bickering simultaneously over the afternoon press conference on the precautions to keep foot and mouth disease out of the U.S. and who was hogging the salsa. Josh closed his eyes and leaned back in the seat, too exhausted to even think about ordering dinner. Donna looked at the menu and selected a reasonably healthy grilled chicken with a cilantro and lime glaze for him and a taco salad for herself.

The waiter returned with a pitcher of beer and three mugs along with a grande margarita for C.J. and took their dinner orders. After the waiter left and the standard food-related conversation waned, CJ asked, "What were you guys talking about earlier? "Why wouldn't you sit next to Donna?"

Donna looked at Josh, who looked down at the table and sighed, "Because of this," he raised his left hand from under the table so CJ and Sam could see that it was intertwined with Donna's right hand.

"You're a couple?" she screeched then realized she needed to keep her voice down as her companions cringed, "why wasn't I your first call!"

"'Cause there's nothing to report. Not yet anyway..." Josh said, glancing at Donna to gauge her reaction to his statement. He wasn't at all sure that she was going to be a willing participant in what he'd decided to refer to as 'Leo's Grand Scheme.' Leo simply called it 'The Schedule.' "We weren't allowed to even talk about it to each other for a month."

"Wait. You mean to tell me that you declared your undying love for each other a month ago but couldn't talk about it until tonight? What is this Saint Teresa's Academy for Girls?" CJ exclaimed, while Sam looked on bemused.

"Something like that," Josh muttered.

"That's why I took over for Jan Davis in HR. We weren't allowed to work together any longer," Donna piped in, glancing at Josh and noticing how drawn his eyes looked. "It's not working out, is it? The temp."

"No. I have to do my work and yours. Hers," he correctly quickly hoping that Donna wouldn't take offense at the misstatement. He knew she'd done well with the position and had proved herself well capable of running the HR department in the event that Jan had to stay out longer or chose to take a leave of absence and stay home with the new baby and her toddler. He wasn't thriving so well. In fact, he wasn't thriving at all.

"You shouldn't have run Ginger off," Sam quipped taking the last big chip before CJ got it.

"Yeah. That reminds me... Donna, could you talk to Ginger and tell her I'm sorry I yelled... She won't speak to me. I swear, I think Margaret is hiring temps from Hell just to punish me."

"Well, I wouldn't be surprised," Donna replied. "You did make fun of her pencils. You don't mess with Margaret about her pencils."

"Yeah, well. Seriously, I think she's hiring me temps who are all ex-prison guards. The last three have looked like they'd be more than happy to kill me if I get outta line."

The waiter arrive with their dinners, so conversation stopped while the food was distributed, another pitcher of beer ordered and everyone settled down to the business of stuffing their faces. After the waiter had cleared the dishes and brought another round of drinks, CJ felt sufficiently fortified to venture into the fascinating subject of 'what the hell were Josh and Donna talking about.'

"So," she opened with, since there was no subtle way to approach this, "You've declared your undying love, and Leo --I assume it's Leo--says you can't talk about it for a month. Donna goes to HR, you get the temp from Hell. Now you can talk about it. What else can you do?"

Three sets of eyes stared at Josh. "That's about it, actually. We can now sit next to each other and hold hands in private." Josh looked over to see how Donna was going to take that news. It was up to him to explain Leo's schedule. "And we haven't declared our undying love."

"Don't tell me. It's not allowed," CJ sighed in exasperation as the bizarre romance of the two most bizarre people she knew unfolded before her eyes.

"Yeah. It's too early."

"Josh, what have you gotten us into? Don't I have a say?" Donna mock-complained from habit. She had sworn to Leo that she'd follow whatever rules he set. It really didn't matter, she would gladly meet whatever demands he made as long as it meant that she could be with Josh.

Josh paled but took a deep breath and looked at her intently as he responded, "Donna, you have all the say. If you don't want to continue... if you ever want to stop and get off this merry-go-round, you can walk away and no one will hold it against you. Least of all, I."

She looked up at him and with a gentle half-smile said, "I'll ride this out. Whatever Leo wants, we can handle it. We're a good team.".

"So what does Leo want?" Sam said washing down his Vitamin C, B12 Complex, Ginko Biloba, and Echinacea capsules with healthy swigs of beer.

Josh reached into his inner suit pocket and pulled out a folded, multi-page document. "This."

Sam and CJ grabbed it out of his hand and immediately put their heads together to read the pages. Josh turned to Donna and explained. "He made me sign an oath this time. Sight unseen, that I would abide by that schedule. But it depends on your agreeing too, of course."

CJ pulled out her reading glasses and Sam moved the candle over to provide additional light so they could read the text in the dim restaurant light. When they were finally able to decipher the words, CJ read, "'Week Number: Allowed (anything not listed is strictly prohibited)... Weeks 1 through 4'-- we know that part... 'Week 5:' Yep, there it is: 'sitting next to each other and holding hands in private.' Awww, isn't this sweet. 'One kiss on (face) cheek and no more than two hugs of under two minute duration per day. Both parties must be fully clothed and hands must not be in contact with bare skin not usually exposed by said parties when meeting with the President.' Okay...You're really going to do this?"

"I don't have a choice," Josh replied leaning forward on his elbows. Sam grabbed the document from C.J. and started reading ahead.

"Which means, I'm in too," Donna said reaching her arm behind Josh to rub his back. "Does it really specify 'face' cheek. Like I'd kiss any other kind?" Well... during Week 5, she mentally corrected.

"Right here," C.J. said grabbing the document out of Sam's hands and showing the page to Donna. "Lawyer's you know. Gotta cover all potentialities."

"Absolutely," Sam said grabbing the papers back, "and as your lawyer. I need to discuss these rules with Leo. There's really a lot that has to be clarified."

"Sam, this is bad enough without you pissing Leo off," Josh moaned.

"Like, for instance, rubbing his back. As your lawyer, I'd advise you to cease and desist." Donna lifted her hand, but rested her elbow on Josh's back. "That isn't listed as being allowed this week and I'm not sure whether that would fall under the general category of hugging or 'Week 10: Hands many wander over clothed skin of upper body' So long as your torsos remain upright, that is. Leaning over like that might put you into Week 11."

"Sam..." Josh whined, "alright talk to Leo about the back rubs," as he reclined his arms on the table and leaned forward further so that Donna could have better access to his back. Donna took the hint and resumed her possible illegal back rubbing. "We'll call this one of our two hugs."

"We can claim 'medical reasons' can't we?" Donna asked, "I mean, if he's in pain, it's my duty to help. Leo'd understand that."

"Donna, have you ever given Josh a backrub before?" C.J. asked.

"Well, no, but that was when I thought it'd tempt me into betraying myself for sure. I've wanted to give him back rubs plenty of times."

"And you don't think it might be too tempting now?" C.J. quirked an eyebrow at Donna's increasingly suggestive rubbing.

"Fair point," she said giving Josh's back one last pat as she stopped and put her hands primly on the table.

"Also that could be construed as a public display of affection," Sam interjected, "and PDAs aren't allowed until Week 8. Nevertheless, I want to clarify that point with Leo. Maybe we can get back rubs allowed as long as one of the staff is present," Sam pulled out his pen and made a notation on the document before returning to peruse it as if it were a legal contract for the purchase of a ship. Which, in a way it was... a legal document for the purchase of the ship 'Joshua Lyman, Esquire' by one Ms. Donnatella Moss, Extraordinaire.

Sam, flipped through the pages of the highly detailed schedule looking for 'the good parts.' "I see week 17's going on the calendar. Josh's 'Day of Jubilee.'"

"Sam, please, don't..." Josh said leaning back from the table a bit to look up at his friend.

"The week before's a keeper too. Although... I must say, I'm surprised Leo even knows that word. Did he really write these?

"Actually," a very subdued Josh stammered, sitting back and rubbing his face with his hands. "He signed-off on them. I...I believe Margaret..." he hesitated, "wrote them."

"Oh God!" exclaimed Donna, remembering a supposedly-innocuous conversation she'd had with Margaret earlier in the week on "female things."

"--With, I think, help from Mrs. Landingham--" Josh continued.

"Oh God!" Donna exclaimed hiding her face behind her hands.

"Mrs. Landingham?" C.J. exclaimed.

"She was looking at me funny after staff today... Like she was sizing me up."

Sam and CJ stared at Josh. Sam at least tried to look mortified for his best friend's embarrassment. CJ started to chuckle. At her infectious laughter, Sam broke into a grin and started laughing too.

Josh buried his head in his arms on the table and said, "Guys, I'm dying here."

"What I don't get is why you're letting us know about these rules in the first place?" C.J. asked amid her laughter. 'I know you're a hopeless schmuck, but really!"

"Actually... Leo's going to give them out in Senior Staff tomorrow. He wants--"

"He wants us to make sure you follow them," Sam concluded.

"Yeah."

C.J. grabbed the list from Sam and started looking for 'the good parts' herself. "Are they crazy! We can't pull off a Rose Garden wedding in six weeks! They're giving us six weeks... Six weeks!...between the engagement announcement in Week 14 and the wedding in Week 20! We've barely got enough time to pull it off if we get started now!"

"Wedding?" Donna put her hands down and looked blankly at C.J. "Wedding?"

C.J. handed Donna the schedule, pointing to the last few weeks. Donna tried to focus on the section that discussed the wedding, but she kept being distracted by the earlier paragraphs... sex... Josh... sex with Josh... she gulped and looked up from the paper to see Josh looking at her, trying to read her face. C.J. promptly grabbed the rules back out of Donna's hands.

Josh smiled wryly. "He's not going to force us into that. It's a contingency. It's on the schedule as the earliest date allowed. It's the only way you can come back to working for me when Jan returns from maternity leave. Section 11 of the White House's policy for interoffice relationships and sexual harassment says that married couples can work together."

"Oh. You don't mean you'd want to get married to have me back as your assistant?" Donna asked, dangerously quiet.

"No. Of course not. Not even if you brought me coffee." He looked across at C.J. and Sam who were watching in rapt attention to see if he dug himself in deeper or managed a 'save'.

He swallowed and turned back to Donna. Taking her hand he said, "I know it's too early to say what will happen in four months, whether there'll be a wedding in Week 20. I don't know if there'll be a week six. I'm so hopeless at this, Donna. And it's so important to me. You're so important to me. I don't want to screw up. If going by the rules keeps me from blowing it, then I'm all for it. But if they're too fast, just say the word. I'll just tell Leo we're behind schedule. He'll come up with another job for you."

Donna looked up at Josh, ignoring the distinct sniffing sounds coming from the opposite side of the table, "That'll be fine, Josh. We'll proceed according to schedule, for now at least."

"'Kay," Sam stated, reading the schedule of rules he'd grabbed back from C.J. back when she started getting all teary eyed, "now that that's settled... C.J. has the engagement announcement to make during Week 14, but I don't see a listing for Josh's proposal. I think that's an oversight. I'd better talk to Leo about that too."

"I think I can take care of that on my own," Josh said smiling shyly at Donna.

"Or maybe, I'll propose."

"You'd do that?" Josh asked smiling broadly, irresistibly dimpling. "You'd ask me to marry you?"

"Why not? I'm a liberated woman. Why does it have to be the man who asks?"

"Donna," C.J. complained, "He's already got a big enough ego, he doesn't need the added boost of having you ask him to marry you. Make him beg! Make him cry like a little girl. He'll get his own soon enough. We don't need him going around crowing like Chanticleer."

"That's true." Donna answered, distracted by a stray thought, "What a great code name. I'm going to have to suggest that to Ron Butterfield. It's perfect for Josh, and you know how they like to change them..."

"Donna promise me you won't suggest Chaucer to Ron for our next set of code names. I'm liable to end us as the Wife of Bath," C.J. pretended to complain. From the look in her eyes she was already thinking of appropriate names for Sam and Toby... "Anyway, what are we going to do about this wedding thing? I need to know whether to schedule this or not."

"C.J., if it does happen, and there's no guarantee of that, it's not a White house event. It'd just be us using the garden of a friend. I can't afford the type of wedding you're envisioning. I'm sorry Donna. I'm not Prince Charles."

"Thank goodness. I wouldn't be marrying you if you were. But, as it happens, I don't want a fairytale wedding with six white horses pulling my pumpkin carriage. I'd rather have that trip to Hawaii and save the money for a house where our kids can grow up." Donna realized that she'd pretty much given Josh her answer and revealed her ultimate fantasy in one, "uh... that is, assuming there is a wedding much less kids."

"So... as your friend," the ever-practical C.J. continued "I should just make a few discrete inquires into... you know... catering, flowers... music?"

"Justice of the Peace?" Sam suggested, "Or do you want a mixed religious ceremony?" Sam and C.J. started discussing the various permutations of all the types of wedding ceremonies that Josh and Donna could have.

"Maybe we should just elope," Donna said quietly to Josh, "assuming--"

"Assuming there is a wedding. Maybe we should just take that as a 'given' so we don't have to keep saying that. The idea of eloping has a certain appeal. I'd want my mother there though."

"Definitely your mother should be there. Your mother's great. It was mine I was hoping to avoid," she grimaced. "Of course she'll be thrilled I'm finally getting married. The only thing that'd make her happier is if I were pregnant."

"Not much chance to work on that before the wedding, but to please your mother..." Josh grinned.

"Josh! Be serious," Donna said loud enough to attract C.J. and Sam's attention back from their discussion on the marriage rites of the ancient Phoenicians. "We've decided on a small wedding with just close family and friends. Maybe a Unitarian Minister..." she added looking at Josh who nodded his assent.

"You know, if it's the money, we could get the DNC to fund it as a political event..." Sam mused.

"No!" Josh and Donna exclaimed. "Our wedding is not going to be a political event," Josh continued.

"Okay," said C.J., but there will be press there, and... you know... photographers. We can't ban them from viewing the event-- non-event, whatever-- or they'll claim we're trying to hide something. This whole thing is just gonna look suspicious. Why's Leo doing this anyway? It's just bizarre."

"It's really not," Josh said softly, "It's actually to keep it from ever being an issue. Now, if Congress decides to throw a party to investigate my alleged sexual misdeeds in the White House, everyone can say that they know without a doubt that Donna and I never dated and never spoke about dating until a month after her transfer to HR. You could honestly say you never so much as saw us hold hands until that time. Leo's doing this to protect me. To protect us, and make sure we can be together" looking at Donna, "as soon as possible without there being any suggestion of impropriety that Ann Stark can use against us. He's making it look like I'm just now falling in love, instead of the truth: That I've been in love with Donna for years."

Donna smiled and squeezed Josh's hand. Sam could talk to Leo about the back rubs. He could even talk the DNC into paying for the wedding as a political event. C.J. could have her descend from a horse-drawn carriage and walk down the primrose path with 20 attendants carrying a 30 foot train. She didn't care. Just so long as she got to take Joshua Lyman home and keep him.

* * * The End


End file.
